Xi Jinping was the son of Xi Zhongxun, who once served as deputy prime minister of China and was an early comrade-in-arms of Mao Zedong. The elder Xi, however, was often out of favour with his party and government, especially before and during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and after he openly criticized the government’s actions during the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. The younger Xi’s early childhood was largely spent in the relative luxury of the residential compound of China’s ruling elite in Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution, however, with his father purged and out of favour, Xi Jinping was sent to the countryside in 1969 (he went to largely rural Shaanxi province), where he worked for six years as a manual labourer on an agricultural commune. During that period he developed an especially good relationship with the local peasantry, which would aid the wellborn Xi’s credibility in his eventual rise through the ranks of the CCP.

In 1974 Xi became an official party member, serving as a branch secretary, and the following year he began attending Beijing’s Tsinghua University, where he studied chemical engineering. After graduating in 1979, he worked for three years as secretary to Geng Biao, who was then the vice premier and minister of national defense in the central Chinese government.

In 1982 Xi gave up that post, choosing instead to leave Beijing and work as a deputy secretary for the CCP in Hebei province. He was based there until 1985, when he was appointed a party committee member and a vice mayor of Xiamen (Amoy) in Fujian province. While living in Fujian, Xi married the well-known folksinger Peng Liyuan in 1987. He continued to work his way upward, and by 1995 he had ascended to the post of deputy provincial party secretary.

In 1999 Xi became acting governor of Fujian, and he became governor the following year. Among his concerns as Fujian’s head were environmental conservation and cooperation with nearby Taiwan. He held both the deputy secretarial and governing posts until 2002, when he was elevated yet again: that year marked his move to Zhejiang province, where he served as acting governor and, from 2003, party secretary. While there he focused on restructuring the province’s industrial infrastructure in order to promote sustainable development.

Xi’s fortunes got another boost in early 2007 when a scandal surrounding the upper leadership of Shanghai led to his taking over as the city’s party secretary. His predecessor in the position was among those who had been tainted by a wide-ranging pension fund scheme. In contrast to his reformist father, Xi had a reputation for prudence and for following the party line, and as Shanghai’s secretary his focus was squarely on promoting stability and rehabilitation of the city’s financial image. He held the position for only a brief period, however, as he was selected in October 2007 as one of the nine members of the standing committee of the CCP’s Political Bureau (Politburo), the highest ruling body in the party.

With that promotion, Xi was put on a short list of likely successors to Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CCP since 2002 and president of the People’s Republic since 2003. Xi’s status became more assured when in March 2008 he was elected vice president of China. In that role he focused on conservation efforts and on improving international relations. In October 2010 Xi was named vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), a post once held by Hu (who since 2004 had been chair of the commission) and generally considered a major stepping-stone to the presidency. In November 2012, during the CCP’s 18th party congress, Xi was again elected to the standing committee of the Political Bureau (reduced to seven members), and he succeeded Hu as general secretary of the party. At that time Hu also relinquished the chair of the CMC to Xi. On March 14, 2013, he was elected president of China by the National People’s Congress.

Among Xi’s first initiatives was a nationwide anti-corruption campaign that soon saw the removal of thousands of high and low officials (both “tigers” and “flies”). Xi also emphasized the importance of the “rule of law,” calling for adherence to the Chinese constitution and greater professionalization of the judiciary as a means of developing “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Under Xi’s leadership China was increasingly assertive in international affairs, insisting upon its claim of territorial sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea despite an adverse ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and promoting its “One Belt, One Road” initiative for joint trade, infrastructure, and development projects with East Asian, Central Asian, and European countries.

Xi managed to consolidate power at a rapid pace during his first term as China’s president. The success of his anti-corruption campaign continued, with more than one million corrupt officials being punished by late 2017; the campaign also served to remove many of Xi’s political rivals, further bolstering his efforts to eliminate dissent and strengthen his grip on power. In October 2016 the CCP bestowed upon him the title of “core leader,” which previously had been given only to influential party figures Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin; the title immediately raised his stature. A year later the CCP voted to enshrine Xi’s name and ideology, described as “thought” (“Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era”), in the party’s constitution, an honour previously awarded only to Mao. Xi’s ideology was later enshrined in the country’s constitution by an amendment passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) in March 2018. During the same legislative session, the NPC also passed other amendments to the constitution, including one that abolished term limits for the country’s president and vice president; this change would allow Xi to remain in office beyond 2023, when he would have been due to step down. The NPC also unanimously elected Xi to a second term as president of the country in March.